Suppressed Voices
Akash Khandke
Lokmat News Network, Nashik
Dugarwadi, a hamlet consisting of around 30 homes, located in Igatpuri taluka has been awaiting a decent road, uninterrupted power supply, healthcare facilities, and water supply for ages now. Residents here are fed up with politicians, who remember this small village only during the election season. The local administration too does not seem to be bothered much about the harsh living conditions here, as no substantial development has been done even after the villagers have approached the local government officials several times.
Lokmat Times visited Dugarwadi, located in the lap of nature, to understand problems of these poor people, who have reached a state of mind where they feel that any development in this region of Nashik district might just remain a dream, if the administration continues to turn a blind eye to their issues and demands.
During the discussion with villagers, most of them had a checklist of demands that they wanted to be fulfilled by the government. In this list, the top priority is construction of a road from the village to the nearest bus pick-up point in Kachorli village 2.5 km away, as it becomes extremely difficult to travel during emergencies and monsoon. Those who wish to travel to Trimbakeshwar or Nashik have to walk all the way to Kachorli to board a bus. Secondly, they want regular water supply at their homes. A pipeline network has been laid in the village to provide drinking water through individual household tap connections. However, the villagers are yet to see any water flowing through these taps. Their third important demand is a primary healthcare centre.
Most men in the village work as construction workers during summer and winter season and can be seen helping farmers with cultivation and harvesting during the monsoon. Women here are primarily homemakers, because even though they wish to help their husbands earn money, they cannot, as construction sites are far away and there is no road or regular transportation available.
Throwing light on their hardships, 45-year-old Shankar Surumkar said, “Life is not at all easy for residents of Dugarwadi. All of us have understood that we cannot get anything without struggle. Many people here do not have caste certificates. Whenever we approach government officials in this regard, they ask us to bring requisite documents, such as caste certificates of our father or grandfather. Here, most people are illiterate, and they don't even know their exact age. From where will they produce documents?”
Though the use of gas cylinders in kitchens has become a common practice everywhere, most women in this hamlet are still burning wood to cook food everyday. “A few families here have received gas cylinders under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, but others are still cooking on chulha (clay stove). We get wood from trees around our village as we cannot afford gas cylinders.”